Editing Henry James (section)

===Nonfiction===
Beyond his fiction, James was one of the more important literary critics in the history of the novel. In his classic essay ''[[Partial Portraits|The Art of Fiction]]'' (1884), he argued against rigid prescriptions on the novelist's choice of subject and method of treatment. He maintained that the widest possible freedom in content and approach would help ensure narrative fiction's continued vitality. James wrote many critical articles on other novelists; typical is his book-length [[Hawthorne (book)|study]] of Nathaniel Hawthorne, which has been the subject of critical debate. Richard Brodhead has suggested that the study was emblematic of James's struggle with Hawthorne's influence, and constituted an effort to place the elder writer "at a disadvantage."<ref>Richard Brodhead. ''The School of Hawthorne'' (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), 137.</ref> Gordon Fraser, meanwhile, has suggested that the study was part of a more commercial effort by James to introduce himself to British readers as Hawthorne's natural successor.<ref>Gordon Fraser. "Anxiety of Audience: Economies of Readership in James's ''Hawthorne''." ''The Henry James Review'' 34, no. 1 (2013): 1–2.</ref>

When James assembled the ''[[New York Edition]]'' of his fiction in his final years, he wrote a series of prefaces that subjected his own work to searching, occasionally harsh criticism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rawlings |first=Peter |date=July 1998 |title=Review: The Prefaces of Henry James: Framing the Modern Reader |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A21112582/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=63e3820d |journal=Essays in Criticism |volume=48 |issue=3 |doi=10.1093/eic/48.3.284 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |via=GALE}}</ref>
[[File:HenryJames1897.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Photograph of Henry James (1897)]]

At 22, James wrote ''The Noble School of Fiction'' for ''The Nation''{{'}}s first issue in 1865. He wrote, in all, over 200 essays and book, art, and theatre reviews for the magazine.<ref>[[Katrina vanden Heuvel|vanden Heuvel]] (1990) p. 5</ref>

For most of his life, James harboured ambitions for success as a playwright. He converted his novel ''The American'' into a play that enjoyed modest returns in the early 1890s. In all, he wrote about a dozen plays, most of which went unproduced. His costume drama ''Guy Domville'' failed disastrously on its opening night in 1895. James then largely abandoned his efforts to conquer the stage and returned to his fiction. In his ''[[Notebooks of Henry James|Notebooks]]'', he maintained that his theatrical experiment benefited his novels and tales by helping him dramatise his characters' thoughts and emotions. James produced a small amount of theatrical criticism, including appreciations of Henrik Ibsen.<ref>[[Allan Wade|Wade]] (1948) pp. 243–260.</ref>{{refn|For a general discussion of James's efforts as a playwright, see Edel's referenced edition of his plays.|group=nb}}

With his wide-ranging artistic interests, James occasionally wrote on the visual arts. He wrote a favourable assessment of fellow expatriate [[John Singer Sargent]], a painter whose critical status has improved markedly since the mid twentieth century. James also wrote sometimes charming, sometimes brooding articles about various places where he visited and lived. His books of travel writing include ''[[Italian Hours]]'' (an example of the charming approach) and ''[[The American Scene]]'' (on the brooding side).{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}

James was one of the great letter-writers of any era. More than 10,000 of his personal letters are extant, and over 3,000 have been published in a large number of collections. A complete edition of James's letters began publication in 2006, edited by Pierre Walker and Greg Zacharias. {{as of|2014}}, eight volumes have been published, covering from 1855 to 1880.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/Catalog/ProductSearch.aspx?ExtendedSearch=false&SearchOnLoad=true&rhl=The+Complete+Letters+of+Henry+James&sj=721&rhdcid=721 |title=Product Search – University of Nebraska Press |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222214028/https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/Catalog/ProductSearch.aspx?ExtendedSearch=false&SearchOnLoad=true&rhl=The+Complete+Letters+of+Henry+James&sj=721&rhdcid=721 |archive-date=22 February 2014 }}</ref> James's correspondents included contemporaries such as [[Robert Louis Stevenson]], [[Edith Wharton]], and [[Joseph Conrad]], along with many others in his wide circle of friends and acquaintances. The content of the letters range from trivialities to serious discussions of artistic, social, and personal issues.<ref>Edel (1983) volume 4 p. 208</ref>

Very late in life, James began a series of autobiographical works: ''A Small Boy and Others'', ''Notes of a Son and Brother'', and the unfinished ''[[The Middle Years (autobiography)|The Middle Years]]''. These books portray the development of a classic observer who was passionately interested in artistic creation but was somewhat reticent about participating fully in the life around him.<ref name="Dupee 1951"/>